LibGuides: Writing Competitions for Law Students: Animal Law

Animal Law

Sponsor: Committee on Animals and the Law of the New York State Bar Association
Topic: Any area of animal law. The submission must be the student’s individual work product. Papers that have been jointly written by more than one student, or that have been subjected to line editing by professors or advisors, or that have been generated in any part through the student’s use of artificial intelligence (“AI”), shall not be considered. No paper that has been previously published in any form shall be considered. We will only accept one submission per entrant. By submitting a paper for consideration, the student is attesting to their compliance with these requirements."
Who is Eligible: Law students (J.D., L.L.M., Ph.D., and S.J.D. candidates).
Deadline in 2025 Competition: "Papers must be submitted no later than Monday, July 7, 2025."
Prizes in 2025 Competition: "The first-place winner will receive $1,000 and a Certificate of Achievement. The second-place winner will receive $500 and a Certificate of Achievement. The third and fourth place winners will receive a Certificate of Recognition. The Committee also reserves the right to offer the winners (and other entrants), at the Committee’s discretion, the opportunity to publish his/her paper in the Committee’s Laws & Paws publication. Offers to publish are purely within the discretion of the Committee."
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Sponsor: Food and Drug Law Institute
Topic: Paper topics are limited to FDA and regulated agencies’ laws and regulations. Topical focus should be on FDA-regulated industries: food, drugs, animal drugs, biologics, cosmetics, diagnostics, dietary supplements, medical devices, veterinary devices, cannabis, or tobacco and nicotine products.
Deadline in 2024 Competition: June 3, 2024.
Who is eligible: Law students and 2024-2025 academic year graduates whose work article is unpublished at the time of judging. The FDLI encourages "students interested in submitting to the Austern Writing Competition to apply for our complimentary Student Membership Program. This program is available to full-time students of accredited universities and provides access to member benefits as well as student-only discounts and programs."
Prizes in 2024 Competition were: "Winners are awarded: $750 for first place, $500 for second, and $250 for third. Top papers will be considered for publication in the Food and Drug Law Journal."
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Sponsor: Vermont Journal of Environmental Law (VJEL)
Topic: Any article that explores a legal environmental topic is generally eligible. Topics generally include environmental law, natural resource law, energy law, environmental justice, land use law, animal law, and agricultural law. For examples of Articles VJEL looks for, please see our Publications Page.
Deadline: 5:00 pm EST on Monday March 31, 2025.
Who is eligible: All students currently within an ABA-accredited JD or LLM program are encouraged to apply.
Prize in 2025 Competition: "The winning author will be notified in Spring 2025 and will receive a $1,000 cash prize along with a publication offer from VJEL. At the discretion of our senior editors, additional entries may receive publication offers."
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